Monthly Archives: July 2015

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ROSARITO, Baja California – A series of robberies at hotels which have beach exits has lit the red lights as it is suspected it could involve people who were evicted from “El Bordo” in Tijuana [the Tijuana River Channel].

Councilwoman and president of the Rosarito Tourism Commission, Rosa María Plascencia, made a call so that police in the area coordinate with the Mexican Navy, with the goal of a special vigilance of the city’s beaches.

She questioned the lack of police patrols at the beach, a location where thousands of visitors come during the weekends, and which unfortunately has become a location were the homeless camp out and try to mingle in with the visitors this time of year, who are accustomed to camping on the beaches.

The councilwoman said that the issue of hotel robberies is a current one and the most recent event was a tourist from Chile who was staying at Campo Rene and who had his cash stolen, as well and important identity documentation and credit cards, among other belongings.

Cockroach Effect

Plascencia Díaz, who is also a restaurant owner in Puerto Nuevo, said that because of the operation by the City of Tijuana to evict people from “El Bordo,” Rosarito has suffered the effect with the presence of people sleeping overnight on the beaches and begging on the streets.

The result is now there are people who were kicked out of “El Bordo,” she said, who think Rosarito is safer and now make Rosarito their home.

Tinum, Yucatán. – Alejandrina Guadalupe Chacón López, a young 17-year old model was found dead yesterday in a state of decomposition on a property in the town of Xcalacop, in the municipality of Tinum, reported the state Attorney General. She had been missing for several days.

The barking of some dogs alerted the owner of the property where the minor was found, who went out to see what was happening with the dogs and it was then he discovered the body, a few meters behind his property.

The disappearance of Alejandrina Guadalupe was reported last July 7, when the minor asked permission from her mother to go to a ” photo session” at the Umán Polifuncional, where she had a date with an individual, apparently from Chiapas, who was known as Jesús Damián Arias.

The young woman had dreams and several days earlier Damián Arias, who said he was a sports promoter, invited her to a photo session for which she would be paid 10,000 pesos (US$625), and he also asked she bring several changes of clothing.

A taxi driver confirmed he took the youth to the Polifuncional and from that point there was no further knowledge of her, until yesterday afternoon, when her body was found on a vacant property in the town of Xcalacop, in the municipality of Tinum, reported the state Attorney General.

The parents of the girl, Juanita y Pedro, came to the site to confirm the body was of their daughter.

Coroner personnel, criminologists and others came to the locale to remove the body and start the investigation. They said that the cause of death was a strong blow to the head with a heavy object, and this caused a skull fracture.

The coroner reported that the results of the autopsy indicate the young woman was dead between 8 and 9 days, and the cause of death was trauma to the skull.

Regarding the supposed “sports promoter,” the dead girl’s mother repeated that in spite of telling the authorities he could be the person responsible, he was not interviewed by the Attorney General and days later he left the house where he lived in the Villas de Umán subdivision.

Mexico City – A video shared on the social networks went viral when it showed images of a woman crying from her inability to prevent personnel from the municipality of Tula de Allende, Hidalgo, take away her fruit cart outside a school.

The woman cried and begged to let her sell just for that day, so she could get enough money to by oxygen for her mother, and asked that it be recorded.

The recording was made when personnel for the Tula department of regulations, carried out an operation to remove businesses selling food outside the Venustiano Carranza primary school, in downtown Tula.

After the video was made known, two of the three inspectors who appear in the video were fired, as there was proof of arrogance against the citizenry, meanwhile the other was removed from the department of regulations of office of public services.

The items belonging to the woman vendor who appears in the video were returned and she was permitted to continue selling outside the Venustiano Carranza primary school.

ENSENADA, BC July 22, 2015 – A photograph where a group of men and women appear smiling while some of them have a homeless man with a cord around his neck caused reactions on the social networks after it was published by the web portal Plex, of Ensenada.

The so called “Gentlemen” by that web site, appear in an image on calle Primera and Ryerson in downtown, “smiling at the camera and posing behind a homeless man,” said the news agency.

Among those who appear in the photo, identified by social network users, are the Academic Director of the Universidad Xochicalco de Ensenada, Pedro Quezada Vázquez; Francisco Argüelles, owner of a taquería called “Los Carbones,” Verónica Casillas Romero, a State Government defense attorney, Minerva Borja, Carlos Cruz y Mila Rodríguez.

Because of the photo, the mayor of Ensenada, Gilberto Hirata Chico, condemned the indignant treatment of a homeless person which was captured in a photograph that went “viral” as it circulated in diverse news medias and social networks.

In a press conference, the mayor said that this reflects upon the urgency for a cultural change in matters of respect for human rights among the population, as this should not happen.

La Paz, Baja California Sur – The federal consumer protection agency (Profeco), placed seals suspending the activities this Monday at 2PM of a branch of National Car Rental located at the La Paz Airport. This after receiving a complaint from one of its customers who was not given a proof of payment or rental documents for the vehicle.

The customer, a foreigner, called the Profeco 800 number on Sunday after the employees refused to give him the proofs of payment when he was renting an automobile.

Upon arriving at the business installations, located inside the airport terminal, Profeco officials verified that National Car Rental lacked a rental contract, as required by law, and was arbitrarily charging sales taxes on the rental of a GPS.

Based upon Article 7 of the Federal Consumer Protection Law and NOM 174-SCFI-2007, Profeco decided to place seals suspending the business, which will prevent it from renting autos to customers until it regularizes its situation.

National Car Rental is the first company in its market which was sanctioned by Profeco in La Paz so far in 2015.

Annually in Baja California there are 900 cases filed for dispossession. Tijuana is in first place with 400 complaints, followed by Mexicali with 200 and Ensenada with 150. Very few criminals are punished.

July 20, 2015

In Tijuana, the crime of dispossession had a growth rate of 35% in 2014, that is to say, there are more and more people who are the victims of dispossession from their properties. The delay in issuing real estate property titles, in addition to the lack of coordination between municipal and state authorities, has allowed this crime to grow, which is in third place on the criminal index at the state level.

Attorney Carlos Atilano Peña warned that for every 100 crimes which are reported, only three are punished, which opens the door to impunity for those who commit an infraction. Those complaining of being dispossessed have the same luck.

In 2014, residents of Tijuana filed 440 complaints for dispossession with the State Attorney General. From January to May, 2015 the total is 213, and by year end the number could be the same or even surpass 2014.

Article 226 of the Penal Code of Baja California establishes that there shall be a term of one to six years in prison and up to 200 day’s fine (US$875) for anyone who on his own authority and using violence or stealth, occupies the property of another or uses it, or make use of a property right not his. However, in the majority of occasions the inefficiency of the authorities and the slowdown in investigations means that the sentence is not applied, as Zeta was warned by an attorney.

Meanwhile, according to the figures from the State Judicial Branch, in the first quarter of 2015 there were 19,008 judgments from the courts. Of that total, 9,227 were civil cases, followed by 4,417 family law cases, and 3,302 criminal cases. However, that agency did not state how many people were sentenced, nor how many cases were in favor of the citizen.

TIJUANA – With a total of 295 murders reported in the first half of 2015, this year has been more violent than the same period last year, when there were 248 murders in the same period, reveals data from the Citizen’s Council on Public Safety (CCSP).

In the document can be seen that in the first six months of 2015 there were also more murders than in the same period in 2013, when there were 279 murders, or in 2005, when there were 196.

According to the crime analysis from the CCSP, the neighborhoods where there were the largest number of murders (in June 2015)are the Zona Norte, downtown Tijuana, Camino Verde, the Jardines section of Playas de Tijuana and the first and second sections of El Florido.

The statistics also reveal that during the first six months of this year, there have only been six kidnapping reported, a figure which is lower when compared to prior years, as in 2014, for example, there were 16 and in 2010 there were 33 in the same period.

Within the statistics divulged by the CCSP, it mentioned there were 73 reported express kidnappings.

MEXICALI BC, July 16, 2015 – A man identified officially as “V1,” remained as an inmate in the La Mesa Penitentiary for a period of almost three years, in spite of the fact he was innocent, and he was kept jailed due to administrative errors. In light of this, the Human Rights Commission of Baja California (CEDH) issued a recommendation to the State Secretary of Public Security which is to repair the damages with economic compensation, in addition to providing medical and psychological attention.

The CEDH issued recommendation 22/2015, addressed to the State Secretary of Public Security “for human rights violations committed against an inmate at the Social Re-adaptation Center of Tijuana, who was unnecessarily deprived of his liberty for almost three years,” it was reported.

This was, according to the letter, “for the negligence of the personnel in the penitentiary, which failed to act on the resolution issued by the Forth Criminal Court, which had ordered he be released.”

It was reported that after the investigation of the complaint file opened by the CEDH, the public organization concluded that “V1,” whose name is omitted for security and confidentiality reasons, “had his right to personal liberty violated, as well as his right to legal safety,” as he was imprisoned unnecessarily for a period of two years, 11 months and 18 days.

On June 22, 2012, the Forth Criminal Court ordered his release, but he was not freed until June 10, 2015, due to the efforts of the CEDH.

Juárez, Nuevo León. – A young woman, just 15 years old met a tragic death last Sunday afternoon as she was preaching the word of God. She was brutally attacked by a subject inside a home in colonia Encinos, where the minor had come to evangelize.

The victim was Arely Abigaíl Sánchez Herrera, who died from loss of blood as a result of a stab to her neck. Meanwhile the presumed murderer was identified as Rubén Humberto Torres Juárez, 35 years old, who was arrested by the municipal police.

The death of the adolescent was reported around 5:40PM last Sunday at a home on calle Álamos, in the municipality of Juárez. According to witnesses, the victim was a member of a Christian religion, and that afternoon she was preaching the word of God.

They said that at the time stated, Arely Abigaíl arrived at the home to ask for a glass of water and to evangelize, and that the mother of the attacker invited her in. But, once inside the home, Rubén Humberto suddenly started to beat the girl and then attacked her with a knife.

They said that in spite of his mother begging her son to leave her alone, she could do nothing to save her.

The neighbors came to the home and among them managed to subdue the attacker, who had tried to flee, but moments later the Juárez municipal police arrived and arrested him after confirming that the young evangelist had no vital signs.